1. “Father’s Day” – Butch Walker. Do you want to cry? Butch Walker’s gorgeous, vulnerable, powerful eulogy for his father will make it happen. This is masterful songwriting.

2. “Through the Night and Back Again” – Michael Malarkey. With the casual vocals of Josh Ritter, the smooth yet perky vibe of Alexi Murdoch, and a charm all his own, Malarkey is now one to watch.

3. “How You Should Be” – Ethan Jano. Here we have a country-rock hollerer with a Johnny Cash strum, train-track drums, and a twitchy overall mood. It’s exciting.

4. “So Let’s Go” – Alan Doyle. If Imagine Dragons decided to write a sea shanty folk tune with some Celtic vibes, we’d have this astonishingly chipper tune. This should be crushing radio right about now.

6. “Juniper Blues” – Chris Jamison. Jamison sets a stately, hushed mood, getting emotional without getting histrionic. For all those fans of the dignified dive bar singer/songwriter who takes his job of offering the soundtrack for climbing into a tumbler of whiskey and sadness seriously.